There have been many different types of apparatus or mechanisms constructed or proposed for automatically and successively transferring a supply of articles from one position to another position which may be at a different elevation in addition to being horizontally offset from the one position. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,857,496 and 4,134,305 show two different types of apparatus for producing rotation or oscillation of a transfer arm supported by a head member and also for producing vertical or linear movement of the arm or head member. In addition, many patents have issued in the field of robotics where usually a gripping mechanism is supported on the end of a transfer arm and is moved with universal movement in accordance with a preprogrammed control system. However, it has been found that none of the known prior art transfer apparatus provide for quickly transferring relatively heavy articles with precision and also provide high dependability of operation in addition to being relatively inexpensive to construct.